TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - Into The Dalek.

It was a distinctly unsubtle case of another week, another call back in last Saturday’s episode of Doctor Who. ‘Into The Dalek’, episode two of this brand new series, with its brand new Doctor, saw The Time Lord (Peter Capaldi) and companion Clara (Jenna Coleman) visit a Dalek prisoner stranded on an enemy warship.

Reminiscent of Christopher Eccleston’s trip to a Utah alien museum in series one, the Dalek in question is alone, ill - possibly dying- and trapped. This particular egg-whisker is a Dalek with a difference, however. Its illness has changed it. No longer perma-angry and murderous, Rusty, as The Doctor cheerfully dubs him, is even quite chatty.  He (I’m sticking with he- I have no idea if Daleks actually do have genders) is, it seems, essentially a good Dalek. With Rusty’s health failing and the un-named war between the future-humans and his kind raging on, the soldiers need information. Operating a dangerous new technology, they shrink the crew down small enough to, you guessed it, the clue was in the title, go into the Dalek.

The episode proved surprisingly imaginative. Despite choosing to focus on Daleks, them being the most infamous Doctor Who villain since The Time War, and despite having the most obvious title since ‘Snakes on a Plane’ was released into the world, its subject matter was actually rather bold new territory for the show. We’ve seen inside a Dalek before, sure, but only because it decided to throw its doors open and reveal the goop within of its own accord. This showed us the intricate workings of a killing machine, step by step as The Doctor et al walked its veins. It was also a thoughtful, thought provoking look into war, its casualties and how we deal with them. As one of the soldiers sombrely announced early on in the show ‘We don’t need hospitals any more. Daleks don’t leave any wounded. And we don’t take any prisoners’. 

All this context of conflict sat very well, both literally and symbolically, alongside new character soldier-turned-teacher Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson).  Writing fully-fleshed non-irritating side characters is not exactly Moffat’s strong suit (perhaps no surprise then that this episode was actually co-written by Bill Ford) but, so far at least, this character comes across as a companion who might actually have that quality, so elusive in the show of late: likeability. Shown struggling to pluck up the courage even to ask Clara out for a drink, conflicted by his feelings and berating himself for his ineptitude afterwards, whilst also showing very visible distress when questioned about his past by his new pupils, it’s clear the man has layers. 

In fact, it was character in general which shone in this episode. Jenna Coleman goes from strength to strength as Impossible Girl Clara, juggling her day to day life as an ordinary English teacher and her time-travelling ‘hobby’ with good judgement. Capaldi, meanwhile, has settled into the TARDIS as if was born in it. Whilst he doesn’t quite seem to have found his Doctor’s own personal energy just yet, he’s incredibly likeable in the role, bringing wit, intelligence and a sort of calm passion to what had become a distinctly giddy Doctor. You do begin to feel ever so slightly beaten over the head with their ‘I’m not attracted to you. Nobody is attracted to anyone anymore. This is platonic. Platonic!’ (delivered with the syntax of a Dalek) banter, amusing though it is, it just feels a little try-hard. And it just isn't needed.

Finally, I simply cannot let this review go by without a good hearty mention for another new character. There was a second appearance here for the mysterious Missy. Played by the ever-fantastic Michelle Gomez in a spark of utter genius casting, this enigmatic lady/alien/ghost-woman appears to pluck those who have died a death in some way caused by The Doctor right out of their scenes, seemingly re-materialising them in a place she calls Heaven.

Naturally, various theories abound on the internet, with ideas on her identity ranging from a female Master, to the TARDIS, to Clara, to River Song and back again. For now at least, this is a refreshingly new series arc, with the tiny cameo clips at the end of each episode filled with just enough intrigue and a sense of impending doom to keep us all once again clearing the diary and booking the remote for the following Saturday night.

Jen

@jenniferklarge

Becky will be looking after you all next week.

In the meantime, here’s a link to her review of last week’s Deep Breath.

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TV REVIEW: Doctor Who, The Rings of Akhaten

Who on earth* is Clara? What is The Doctor’s mental state? Does he still miss the Pond-Williamses? Well we’ve got absolutely no idea, and we won’t for a while, but nevermind that let’s all go to a market stall on a distant planet with all sorts of weird and wonderful aliens, hurrah!- seemed to be the order of the day in this week’s Doctor Who episode, ‘The Rings of Akhaten’.

In what has become standard Doctor Who second episode of a new companion fare, ‘The Rings of Akhaten’ began with The Doctor asking Clara what in all of time, space and all the bits of fluff and otherwise in between, that she would most like to see. Clara, betraying little touches of her character with almost everything she says, again standard fare at this point in a new character’s TV lifespan, asks simply to see ‘something amazing’. That something turns out to be a suitably far off planet, or more accurately, seven planets, rotating around a pyramid commonly believe in those parts to be not only a God, but the source of all life. Conveniently for the plot, if not for Clara’s “nice day out”, they arrive just in time for the Festival of Offerings, where a young choir girl is in danger of becoming a young sacrifice to an old God.

With its issues of religion, faith and it’s prominence in society, as well as the presence of a giant godhead sleeping just out of sight, this episode is very reminiscent of Series 2’s ‘The Satan Pit’. The resemblance actually went further than just the basics, with Matt Smith’s Doctor confronting the god figure in much the same impassioned and heartfelt way as David Tennant’s did the devil back in 2006. Said speech was undoubtedly one of Smith’s finest moments as the time travelling hero so far, with the solitary tear streaking down his cheek at one point as he spoke of “those lost” adding sincerity, rather than the melodrama it could so easily have been accused of. He really did act his socks off, and, for me, usually more of a fan of his predecessor, finally standing up and owning the role as his own. Hey, it’s only taken me three years to come around.

And speaking of coming around to a character, Clara is developing into a bright and witty companion, much more instantly likeable, dare I say it, than the two parts feisty seven parts grumpy Amy Pond (I mean she was married to Arthur Darvill for goodness sake!). We still don’t know who she is, but we are being slowly drip fed details of who she might have been. Albeit in the style of ever frustrating programmes such as ‘Lost’ –  i.e in a way which pretends to give you clues but actually just presents yet more questions. Aside from that, though, my fellow Blackpool born Jenna Louise Coleman is very watchable, and I look forward to seeing what she can do when given a plotline that isn’t entirely based around who, what, where, how – HUH?!? The second most googled phrase about her beyond her full name also happens to be ‘Jenna Louise Coleman hot’, so er, good for her I suppose.

 Many people seem to have been annoyed in their droves by this episode, presumably because it was a little too Fiction, with not enough Science, falling foul of that age old Doctor Who problem of wrapping up the main drama far too quickly without a thought for the consequences or how this is all meant to have happened. Personally, though, I think the main point of an episode such as this,  what with Clara being the new girl and The Doctor still grieving his lost friends, was always going to be more to do with character than the plot itself. Whilst others were not happy with that, and understandably so, given just how fantastic said character development was, particularly in the case of Matt Smith, personally I’ll happily take the compromise.

Perhaps tonight’s episode, ‘Cold War’ we’ll satisfy a wider range of viewers? Becky will let you know.

The next episode of Doctor Who, ‘Cold War’ is on tonight, BBC One, 6pm.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0

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*Consider that your first ‘what on earth’ pun of this series. Plenty more where that came from, fret not.

  Jen

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TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - The Bells of Saint John

Doctor Who returns for the second part of its seventh series run and follows on from the events of the excellent Christmas special The Snowmen (you can read Jen's review of that here). Clara Oswald (Jenna-Lousie Coleman) is now a nanny in London 2013, looking after the children of a family friend. When she runs into some trouble with 'the internet', she calls a helpline and is put straight through to The Doctor (Matt Smith) who just happens to be hiding out in a monastery in 1207. He's a monk now. Monks aren't cool. Meanwhile, the problem with the internet isn't limited to Clara's laptop as people all over London are being uploaded into a mysterious corporation's database, heading by Miss Kislet (Celia Imrie).

Jenna-Louise Coleman continues to delight as new companion Clara, the modern version this time, immediately establishing herself as a great foil to Matt Smith and importantly, she's very different from the Ponds. Though I'm personally still getting over losing Rory, Clara is just too much fun to dislike and I'm looking forward to her future adventures and the discovery of why she keeps dying. Smith remains a magnetic presence as the Doctor and though a couple of his ticks have become a little wearing, he still captures both the light-hearted and darker sides to the Doctor well. His determination to keep Clara alive again was touching whilst the line 'I can't tell the future, I just work there' was a cracker, delivered perfectly.

Whilst the central pair quite rightly command the majority of the attention, there was such a great supporting cast, particularly Celia Imrie's wonderful Miss Kislet. Calm and collected, she was an excellent bad guy and props must also be given to the many extras who had to provide impressions of her as they did well to capture her tone. Kislet may have been restored to her factory settings but can we please have her back again? She was just brilliant. There was also a most welcome return for Richard E. Grant as the Great Intelligence. In fact, I was so pleased to see him back, I may have let out an involuntary squeak. Now that we have an established Big Bad for the series, I'm guessing we're going to see more of him which is a big plus. No one does icy villainy better than Mr Grant (sorry Celia).

Opening with a direct-to-camera warning, the parallels to Moffat's previous triumph, Blink, were clear, as were the narrative connections to the techno-paranoia of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror. Technology in this series can often be the enemy and it was so once again here; this time it was the potential terror of the wifi network. With well-trod themes of lost identity and entrapment, the story was surprisingly fresh. New director Colm McCarthy, managed to keep a tight rein on the packed storyline that, whilst full, did not overstay its welcome. As Jen and I have often observed in our reviews, Doctor Who is often the victim of its runtime, delivering an action-packed build-up but falling spectacularly in the denouement. Here though, The Bells of St John built the story well and provided a satisfactory ending without it feeling rushed or scrambled. 

One of the most joyous things about this episode were all the neat touches that Moffat threw in. There were lots of little jokes, including the source of 'the bells of Saint John' and some wonderful lines thrown in here and there. There were also potential clues hidden in the episode. From the 'eleventh chapter' to the book being written by an Amelia Williams, there were plenty for avid followers to pick up on. Plus, there was a welcome return for the fez. Fezzes are cool. Naturally, there will nevertheless be a dissection of these references, but whether they're signifiers for future events or not, it was a lot of fun for a fan to sit and spot them all.

- Becky

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TV REVIEW: Doctor Who Christmas Special: The Snowmen

For those of us not overly enamoured with the idea of The Snowman and the Snowdog, there were other snow creatures afoot (adrift?) this Christmas. ‘The Snowmen’, this year’s festive Doctor Who episode, had it all. Scary Christmas monsters, fantastic guest stars, at least half of a sensible plot and it was set in the heart of all things considered by TV land to be appropriately festive – Victorian London.

After an unusual introductory sequence involving a small boy talking to some snow, The Doctor descends on the snowy streets of London, moping about on his own and generally being very Scrooge like, barely showing a cursory interest in Richard E Grant's Dr Simeon and his Great Intelligence institute. Naturally, of all the gin joints in all the world, he happens to walk past the tavern worked in by Jenna Louise Coleman’s Clara, who would have ‘new companion material’ written all over her frock even if we hadn’t already seen her in ‘Asylum of the Daleks’. The two deduce that a nearby snowman has somehow managed to build itself, and must consequently have some sort of intelligent mind. Utterly disinterested in all matters timey-wimey as The Doctor is at this point, he attempts to run away, pursued back to the cloud on which he’s parked the TARDIS by the feisty Clara, who then runs away herself after knocking on his door.

Eventually, and all in the nick of time as usual, The Doctor realises that the Earth is in grave danger from the evil snowmen, and arrives at the house Clara works in as a governess just in time to save the family from a huge, walking ice-cube in the shape of a woman emerging from the garden pond. Battle then ensues, with Clara injured and the Doctor fighting for her, the planet, and above all – Christmas.

Speaking of Clara, I cannot heap enough praise onto Jenna Louise Coleman, and believe me I’ve been trying to for the last couple of days. She’s every bit as fiery as Amy, although without a Rory equivalent in tow, she’s a lot freer to be her own person, a character in her own right rather than a part of a whole. Mind you, the whole itself is worth a mention. The return of Madame Vestra and her wife Jenny not only provides us with some gloriously, hilariously simple Moffat-ian lines such as “Good evening. I am a lizard woman from the dawn of time and this is my wife”, but gives a modern, relevant angle to the story. In fact the theme of old and new ran throughout, with new companion Clara innocently quoting ‘Pond’ as the reason The Doctor should get down from his cloud and save the world, as well as a re-vamped looking Tardis and theme tune managing to look cheerfully retro.

Sad as I am that the flirty Clara doesn’t seem likely to star alongside the equally sexually charged Captain Jack Harkness anytime soon, the chemistry between her and Matt Smith’s Doctor is plenty enough to be going along with. Not since the days of Rose has there been such an obvious attraction between the two characters, and it’s a lot of fun to watch. Now on to his second lot of companions, Smith seems to be more at home in the role than before. Having gone through the rite of passage that all Doctors must, the loss of a companion, the part is now truly his.

That said, The Doctor’s moping at the start of the episode did begin to feel a little too routine. We’ve seen it all before with David Tennant’s Doctor. We know the format. It certainly makes for a good ‘will he step in or won’t he’ plotline, but in terms of character, might it be nice if he coped with things slightly differently for a change? Perhaps The Doctor on the rebound could work? He jumps straight into the TARDIS with another companion and then has a hissy fit and breaks down a few episodes later? Unlikely to catch on as a plot but I thought it worth suggesting.

The only other thing potentially throwing snowy spanners into the works of this Christmas special were the references to Moffat’s other TV franchise, Sherlock. I for one enjoyed The Doctor’s useless attempts at deduction, as well as the suggestion that Vestra and Jenny were the true inspiration for Conan Doyle’s Holmes and Watson, but both references felt a little shoe-horned in. Not necessarily an issue, but when you find yourself wondering whether or not Moffat has linked Sherlock to strong female leads in another show in order to dispel the vicious whisperings that he in fact can’t write strong female leads at all – you realise that you’ve been taken out of the immediacy of the story in front of you. You’ve escaped the escapism. And funny as the references were- that’s not good.

All concerns aside though, this was a fantastically funny and pleasantly scary episode- perfectly placed in the schedules for post-lunch sofa collapse. There’s fun to be had guessing which high profile actor played the part of the snow itself, which took me far longer than it should have to figure out, and Richard E Grant is as much of a joy as ever, especially when he’s being evil. The episode continued the tradition of festive themed monsters, the beasts behind the baubles, as well as setting up the next series’ on going mystery arc, namely, who on Earth or otherwise is Clara/Oswin?

Several critics have pointed out that this episode was unlikely to appeal to the casual Who viewer. Fair point, but I think it more important that it managed to satisfy the dedicated fans whilst still leaving them hungry for more.

Which is not bad going really, considering the majority of the audience were still stuffed full of turkey and roast potatoes at the time.

- Jen

You can read more of Jen's writing here: https://memyselfandtheothers.wordpress.com/

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